Vacuum sealed jar top remover



July 18, 1961 s. MEDWID VACUUM SEALED JAR TOP REMOVER Filed May 25, 1960 5 YL (/65 7:2 Win/m:

hire States Patent 2,992,575 VACUUM SEALED JAR TOP REMOVER Sylvester Medwid, RR. 1, Ethelbert, Manitoba, Canada Filed May 23, 1960, Ser. No. 30,906 2 Claims. (Cl. 81-346) My invention relates to new and useful improvements for breaking the seal of a vacuum sealed jar top, particularly the tops of jars commonly known as sealer jars and used for home canning and the like.

These jars normally include a glass lid which is placed loosely upon the upper open end of the jar with a rubber sealing ring therebetween whereupon the contents are heated and a metal screw cap then engages the open end of the jar and tightens the glass lid down upon the seal. Upon cooling of the contents thereof, a tight vacuum seal is produced which has to be broken in order to remove the glass cap prior to using the contents.

It is normal to use a knife or ice pick or other pointed instrument to break this seal, which is accomplished by forcing the point of the instrument between the rubber seal and the glass top and levering upwardly slightly to break the seal so that the cap can be removed.

It will be appreciated that not only is this dangerous to the operator but there is a chance of chipped glass contaminating the contents if the device used is not used competently.

I have overcome these disadvantages by providing a jar top engaging ring having a depending peripheral flange and a slot in the side thereof so that the slot is exactly level with the rubber seal when the cap is placed upon the glass jar top. A fixed arm extends outwardly from this ring and a movable arm is pivoted thereto with a seal engaging end formed thereon which is adapted to pass through the slot and thus separate the rubber seal from the glass top to break the vacuum seal.

The principal object and essence of my invention is therefore to provide a device of the character herewithin described which facilitates the removal of glass top from sealer jars.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described in which the vacuum seal breaking end of the device is automatically positioned correctly adjacent the rubber seal.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which enables the operator to remove the glass top without any danger occurring to the operator, or without the danger of chipped glass being formed and contaminating the contents.

A yet further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture, and otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of my device.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation thereof with the movable handle removed for clarity.

FIGURE 3 is a partial cross sectional elevation of a glass jar with the vacuum seal and cover in place and showing the cap engaging portion of my device sectioned and in place upon the jar for opening same.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

Ice

Proceeding therefore to describe my invention in detail, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings in which I have shown a jar top engaging cover 1, consisting of an annular ring 2 and a depending circumferential flange 3 formed thereon. The flange is of a sufiicient diameter to loosely engage the upper end of a sealer jar 4 having a glass cap 5 thereon and being sealed by means of the rubber vacuum sealing ring 6.

An arcuately curved or angulated handle 7 is secured as by welding by one end 8 thereof to the side flange 3 of the engaging cover 1 and extends outwardly thereof to terminate in a hand grip end 9.

A further arcuately curved or angulated handle 10 is pivoted to the first mentioned arm 7 by means of pivot pin 11 and terminates in a hand engaging end 12 lying substantially in the same plane as the :aforementoned hand engaging end 9.

However, the opposite end 13 of the handle 10 is provided with a seal breaking portion 14, this portion being arcuately curved and edge and end sharpened.

An elongated slot 15 is formed in the depending flange 3 of the cover 1, this slot being positioned so that the end 14 passes therethrough when the hand engaging portions 12 and 9 are squeezed together against the pressure of a spring 16 reacting between the hand engaging portions.

In operation, the device is placed over the top of the jar 4 and the cover 5 whereupon the hand engaging portions 9 and 12 are squeezed together thus causing the portion 14 to pass through the slot. This slot is positioned so that when the device is placed on the jar as illustrated in FIGURE 3, it is exactly opposite the rubber seal 6 therefor the portion 14 passes through the slot and be tween the lid 5 and the rubber seal 6 thus separating the two slightly so that air enters and breaks the vacuum seal. Of course, it will be appreciated that the conventional metal cover has to be screwed off of the jar prior to the operation of the device but it will be seen that the use of the present device facilitates considerably the removal of such vacuum sealed jar tops without any danger being encountered by the operator.

Finally, it will be noted that a stop or projection 17 is formed on one side of the handle or arm 7 adjacent the pivot 11. This stop is engaged by the edge of the other arm when the handles are spread apart by the spring 16 and limits this spreading action.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained angulated arm and adapted to pass through a slot formed in the side of said cover, said cover comprising an annular ring adapted to engage the upper outer surface of said associated jar top and a depending flange formed with said ring and adapted to embrace loosely the vertical sides of said jar top whereby said slot is level with said jar seal.

2. The device according to claim 1 in which said seal 3 breaking portion is arcuately curved and edge and end 2,151,209 sharpened. 2,896,317

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 339,319 705,941 Marsh July 29, 1902 152,623 1,102,124 Baptiste June 30, 1914 4 Hohmann Mar. 21, 1939 Vaive July 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany May 19, 1952 Germany July 4, 1904 

